Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Not satisfied with doing TD Bank's and Corporate Canada's bidding by killing income trusts through a punitive and unjust tax based on the policy falsehood called "tax leakage", Carole Taylor thought she would go that extra distance to secure for herself that brass ring of a Bank directorship in this story by Will McMartin of TheTyee.ca

Taylor Hired by TD Bank After Killing BC's Bank TaxBC is broke but she could make $145,000 to $350,000 as a TD director.

By Will McMartin, 14 Sep 2009, TheTyee.ca

It was an unexpected surprise. A gift, really.

Eighteen months ago, on February 19, 2008, then-BC Liberal finance minister Carole Taylor tabled the province's 2008-09 budget -- her last before quitting politics -- and said she was wiping out B.C.'s corporation capital tax.

For years the big banks had lobbied to have the hated tax abolished, but to no avail. Indeed, over the past three-and-a-half decades, governments of every political stripe -- NDP, Social Credit and BC Liberal -- have seen the corporation capital tax as a way for British Columbians to share in the enormous profits earned in this province by Canada's largest banks.

"The tax exists," former Social Credit Finance Minister Mel Couvelier explained to the legislature in 1987, "largely because the financial industry has often earned large profits and paid little income tax."

(Canada's 'Big Five' banks are headquartered in Toronto. As a consequence, they're largely exempt from paying provincial income taxes.)

Fast forward to August 27, 2009 -- just two weeks ago -- with a news release from Canada's second-largest financial institution, the Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank. (In terms of market capitalization, the Royal Bank is the country's biggest, followed by the TD, then the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Bank of Montreal and the CIBC.)

The TD was adding another member to its board of directors. Who might it be?Check out The Tyee's new classified listings.

Why, it's none other than Carole Taylor, B.C.'s former finance minister, who last year killed the province's corporation capital tax!

While the news in this posting sucks, it is handy to know. As a TD shareholder I will make a point of voting against her if I see her name on the list next year. And of course, an automatic against if I see her name in any other companies I have voting rights.

EVENTS

Income Trust Halloween VigilThanks to all who participated in both the Ottawa and Calgary vigils to mark the anniversary of the announcement.

WE"D LIKE SOME ANSWERS

As you well know, the ‘income trust thing’ has grown beyond the
question of whether fair taxes are paid on income from trusts. It’s
become a giant dirty snowball, and as it rolls forward it accumulates
more and more bulk. There are so many unanswered questions. Let's list a few and invite our "Accountable" government and our free press to provide some much-needed answers.

It is said “Trusts are inefficient use of capital. Why?” Two
related questions are ‘Whose money is it, anyway?’, and ‘Do Canadian
investors have a free and efficient market?’

How can information that is already in the public domain at SEDAR
make for a state secret? How could such information be used to harm
the Canadian national interest? And who would cause the harm?

Why won’t the Canadian media investigate the falsehoods and
misrepresentations told by the Minister of Finance to a committee of
Parliament? Was the Minister in contempt of Parliament?

Why won’t the Canadian media report (a) government tax revenues
gained from BCE in 2006 when BCE was a corporation to (b) government
tax revenues that would be gained in 2007 from BCE, if BCE had been
allowed to proceed to a trust, and (c) government tax revenues that
will be gained in 2007 from BCE, when BCE ownership has been carved
up as 45% foreign ownership and 55% large Canadian pension fund
ownership?